Celtic will head into Christmas day at the top of the Scottish Premiership table after they were held to a 0-0 draw by Dundee United at Tannadice Park on Sunday.
The Hoops are nine points ahead of their closest rivals, Rangers, in second place and have built a healthy lead to take into the second half of the season.
Brendan Rodgers’ team have also already won the League Cup, beating the Gers on penalties at Hampden Park earlier this month, and are on course to qualify for the play-offs in the Champions League.
The Scottish giants scored three goals in the final at the national stadium, albeit they still had to win on penalties after a 3-3 draw, against Philippe Clement’s side.
However, they were unable to carry that goalscoring threat over to the clash with Dundee United away from Glasgow on Sunday, as they were held to a goalless draw.
Rodgers was without the likes of Cameron Carter-Vickers, Auston Trusty, and Nicolas Kuhn, but he was still let down by players who are capable of better, including central midfielder Luke McCowan.
Luke McCowan’s struggles against Dundee United
The summer signing from Dundee was selected to start against his former club’s rivals on Sunday, with Arne Engels and Paulo Bernardo left on the bench.
McCowan had produced five goals and four assists in 14 outings in the Premiership for Celtic and Dundee combined this season prior to the clash at the weekend, which suggested that the manager was bringing in a player who could make a difference at the top end of the pitch.
Unfortunately, however, the central midfielder let Rodgers down with a poor performance in the middle of the park for the Scottish giants, struggling in and out of possession throughout his time on the pitch.
As you can see in the table above, McCowan consistently gifted possession back to Dundee United, losing the ball 23 times in just 62 minutes of action.
The midfielder did create a chance and recorded two shots on goal, but they were not enough to either help a teammate score or to find the back of the net himself.
There was a Celtic player, however, who was even worse than McCowan at Tannadice, as centre-forward Kyogo Furuhashi struggled badly.
Kyogo Furuhashi’s performance against Dundee United
The Japan international was selected to lead the line against United and did not do enough to justify his inclusion in the starting XI, with a poor display through the middle for the Hoops.
In a tight game that would have been decided by one goal, Celtic needed their lone number nine to be the difference-maker in the final third, but he fluffed his lines when the biggest chance of the game fell his way.
After Adam Idah was brought on to play alongside the forward, the Ireland international flicked a brilliant ball through to send Kyogo clear through on goal, only for the Japanese dud to get caught in two minds and accidentally trickle the ball towards the goalkeeper’s body.
The effort was so poor that Sofascore did not even register it as a shot on target or ‘big chance’ missed, instead judging it to be a dreadful touch, rather than a shot.
As you can see in the table above, Kyogo’s all-round play was not good enough in the disappointing draw with Dundee United, even if you disregard him missing the biggest opening of the match.
The Japan international only completed 44% of his attempted passes and failed to create a single chance for his teammates in 90 minutes on the pitch, which shows that his link-up play was well below par. He did not do enough to get his fellow attackers involved to make things happen in the final third.
Kyogo’s complete lack of impact, and wastefulness in possession throughout, despite playing the full 90 minutes is a big concern, and shows that he was even worse than McCowan, who at least created a chance and completed 75% of his passes.
Why Kyogo Furuhashi should be dropped
The Celtic head coach must react to this performance by finally ditching the experienced marksman from the starting line-up on Boxing Day, as his performances have been less-than-impressive over the course of the season so far.
He has found the back of the net twice in his last nine appearances in all competitions, with zero assists in that time, and this shows that the forward has failed to provide a consistent goal threat for the Hoops.
Kyogo’s finishing in Europe has been particularly disappointing, with a return of one goal from 2.36 xG in six outings in the Champions League, which shows that he has not made the most of the high-quality chances that the team have created for him.
The 29-year-old attacker has also been incredibly wasteful with his finishing in the Premiership this season for Celtic, but has remained the first-choice in his position.
As you can see in the table above, he has started the majority of his appearances in the division and has missed more than twice as many ‘big chances’ as he has scored goals, and you could argue that the number should be 15 ‘big chances’ if you count his effort against Dundee United as a shot.
The Japanese forward must finally be ditched from the starting XI and Idah should be given a run of games to prove his worth in a Hoops shirt, with five goals in five starts in the league so far this season.
Rodgers should give the Irishman, who has one goal less than Kyogo in six fewer starts, an opportunity to play week-in-week-out and establish himself as a starter for the Scottish giants.
